At the present time, one of the most critical safety issues while driving in traffic in close proximity to other vehicles is the “separation distance” (i.e., amount of open space between two moving vehicles). Following too closely is cited as the most common reason for vehicular crashes. At its root, following too closely is caused by insufficiently judged separation distances between vehicles, which may ultimately result in a crash, significant vehicle damage, and oftentimes, physical injury to the occupants of the vehicles. There are two general considerations that are used to determine proper “separation distance”: (1) reaction time of a following vehicle; and (2) the inherent stopping ability of a following vehicle relative to the stopping ability of a lead vehicle.
In a traditional non-autonomous driving environment, it is up to a vehicle's driver to continually make subjective value judgments as to an appropriate separation distance that would allow for rapid and unexpected deceleration to occur without a crash occurring. Unfortunately, the driver of a following vehicle has only a limited number of factors to consider, such as vehicular speed and obvious roadway conditions, upon which to correctly determine a proper and safe following distance. Because of the numerous physical and mechanical differences between even two vehicles of the same make and model, it is difficult for drivers to continuously judge in real time the appropriate separation distance to be maintained relative to a leading vehicle, which increases the risk of vehicular crashes.
In view of the increasing number of autonomous vehicles on roadways and the desire to ensure that such autonomous vehicles are continually operating in a safe manner to reduce the risk of accidents, there is a need for systems in vehicles to ensure that vehicles operate in a safe manner and maintain proper separation distances relative to one another. Present systems in development and operation generally rely on sensors to direct a following vehicle to maintain a pre-determined fixed separation distance between itself and a leading vehicle. Such systems typically merely try to maintain a following vehicle at a set separation distance from a leading vehicle based only upon the location of the leading vehicle and a distance relative to the leading vehicle. Such existing approaches are limited in that they do not account for numerous factors that may affect the proper separation distance needed between two vehicles to avoid a crash, including but not limited to vehicular speed, roadway conditions, traffic congestion, and weather.
The present application provides systems and methods for determining and maintaining proper separation distances between traveling vehicles, which overcome the drawbacks and limitations of current systems and methods.